EMB’s worst drop since 2007 was 35%
iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB) fell 35% from May 2008 to Oct 2008. It took 1.2 years from that peak to close at a new high, in Jul 2009. Over the same years the S&P 500 fell as much as 53%.
That drop is milder than most. It ranks 149th of the 203 ETFs PortfolioAutopsy tracks, counted from the deepest.
Drawdown from the last high, 2007 to now
How EMB held up in each crash
| Crash | Years | EMB | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dot-com bust | 2000–02 | not trading yet | −47.5% |
| Financial crisis | 2007–09 | not trading yet | −55.2% |
| COVID crash | 2020 | −26.5% | −33.7% |
| 2022 rate shock | 2022 | −26.1% | −24.5% |
Each number is the deepest fall from a high inside that window, using daily prices with dividends reinvested.
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What was EMB’s maximum drawdown?
EMB’s deepest fall since 2007 was 34.7%, from its high on May 21, 2008 to its low on October 28, 2008. The figure uses daily prices with dividends reinvested.
How long did EMB take to recover?
1.2 years. EMB first closed above its May 2008 high again on July 21, 2009.
Was EMB riskier than the S&P 500?
Over the same years, EMB’s worst drop was 34.7% against 53.4% for the S&P 500 (SPY), and its worst 12 months were −26.4% against −47.4%.
Compare with
Daily adjusted closes from Yahoo Finance, December 20, 2007 through October 13, 2026, dividends reinvested. Historical facts, not a forecast and not investment advice.